Evolution Education Re-considered: Understanding What Works

349 Pages·2019·7.713 MB·English

by  Ute Harms, Michael J. Reiss

Ute Harms · Michael J. Reiss
Editors
Evolution
Education
Re-considered
Understanding What Works
Evolution Education Re-considered
Ute Harms Michael J. Reiss
(cid:129)
Editors
Evolution Education
Re-considered
Understanding What Works
123
Editors
UteHarms Michael J.Reiss
IPN -Leibniz Institute for Science and Institute of Education
Mathematics Educationat Kiel University University CollegeLondon
Kiel, Germany London,UK
ISBN978-3-030-14697-9 ISBN978-3-030-14698-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14698-6
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2019934529
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To Uwe Bertsch and David Ogden
Foreword
“Another book on evolution? Aren’t there many out there already?” you may ask.
Indeed, there are. Nevertheless, the public understanding and acceptance of evo-
lutionarytheoryarerelativelylow,atleastcomparedtoother,equallyimportantand
well-establishedscientifictheories.Therefore,theremustbemoreweneedtodoto
improve thesituation.Evolutionisperhaps aspecialcase becauseteachershaveto
face two different kinds of obstacles: conceptual obstacles, which exist for all
scientific theories, and emotional obstacles, which do not usually exist for other
scientifictheories.Whereaslearningaboutgravityoratomictheorydoesnotusually
raise any personal concerns, learning about evolution touches upon important
aspectsofouridentity:Whoweare,wherewecomefrom,andwherewego.Thus,
thereareemotionalobstaclesthatmaymakeanevolutionarytheorytoseemtobein
conflict with one’s worldviews. Furthermore, evolutionary theory is also counter-
intuitive: The inherent unpredictability and contingency of evolutionary outcomes
seem toconflictwith ourdesignstancethatmakes uslook forplan andpurposein
nature.
So,whatdoweneed?Wecertainlyneedteacherswhohaveunderstoodevolution
and who feel confident in teaching it. But we also need to find effective ways of
teaching evolution, ones that will promote our students’ conceptual understanding
withoutmakingthemfeelthattheirworldviewsarethreatened.Weneedtofindways
tomotivateourstudentstounderstandthiscounterintuitivetheorythatprovidesthe
bestexplanationforboththeunityandthediversityoflife.Inprinciple,thismight
seem simple because there is already a lot of research on students’ preconceptions
about evolution. One might thus expect that given this research, effective teaching
sequences that would address them could be easily designed. Well, design is one
thing, and implementation is another; sometimes, they can lie far apart from each
other. Therefore, the time has come to: (1) investigate under controlled conditions
what factors might cause students’ misunderstandings about evolution (e.g.,
thresholdconceptslikerandomnessandprobability);(2)designteachingsequences
thatexplicitlyaddresswell-knownpreconceptions;and(3)investigatetheconditions
for successful implementationof such teaching sequences.
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viii Foreword
This is what makes the contributions to this book very important, and the book
itselfisextremelyuseful.Theeditorshaveproducedafinecompilationofempirical
studies on teaching and learning evolution for learners of different ages and from
differentcountriesintheworld.Nomatterwhatstrategieswehavedevisedinorder
to address learners’ conceptions and promote conceptual change in evolution, it is
only when these strategies are applied in classrooms, museums or elsewhere that
one can really see if they are effective or not. Empirical research in such places is
the cornerstone for improving the teaching of evolution. If a strategy works well,
wecanuseit;butevenifitfailsterribly,therearestillusefullessonstolearnwhen
we realize what went wrong and why.
Of special importance are those studies that focus on the teaching of evolution,
or of evolution-related concepts, at the elementary/primary school. Like others, I
have been arguing for years that perhaps it is too late to address students’ pre-
conceptions about evolution at the secondary school. Rather, what we need is to
start challenging the design stance and gradually building an evolutionary habit of
mindfromveryyoungages.Thisisfarfromsimpleandstraightforward,andthisis
why the related empirical research is valuable. In addition to such studies, the
present book also includes topics that have not been investigated in depth such as
students’ understanding of probabilities, a skill that generally is not taught at
schools and the lack of which deprives students from understanding several
domainsof contemporary science. And there isa lot more in the presentbook that
readers will appreciate.
I will never get bored in quoting Theodosius Dobzhansky who wrote that
without evolution biology is a collection of sundry facts that make no meaningful
picture asawhole.Nothing inbiologymakessense except inlightofevolution he
noted, and he was right. The present book contains valuable empirical studies on
teaching and learning about evolution, the central unifying theory of biology.
I expect it should be a very valuable resource for years to come.
Geneva, Switzerland Kostas Kampourakis
University of Geneva
Editor-in-Chief Science & Education
Editor-in-Chief Science: Philosophy, History and Education
Contents
The Present Status of Evolution Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Ute Harms and Michael J. Reiss
Evidence for the Success of a Quantitative Assessment Instrument
for Teaching Evolution in Primary Schools in England . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Loredana L. Buchan, Momna V. Hejmadi and Laurence D. Hurst
Developing a Cross-Curricular Session about Evolution for Initial
Teacher Education: Findings from a Small-Scale Study
with Pre-service Primary School Teacher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Berry Billingsley, Manzoorul Abedin, Keith Chappell and Chris Hatcher
Developmental Progression in Learning About Evolution
in the 5–14 Age Range in England. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Terry Russell and Linda McGuigan
Teaching Evolution Along a Learning Progression:
An Austrian Attempt with a Focus on Selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Martin Scheuch, Jaqueline Scheibstock, Heidemarie Amon
and Helene Bauer
Inequitable Foundations? Educational Equality in Evolution. . . . . . . . . 101
Jaimie L. Miller-Friedmann, Susan E. Sunbury and Philip M. Sadler
Examining Teaching Assistants’ (TA) Experiences Facilitating
Traditional Versus Active-Learning-Based Tree-Thinking Curricula:
TA Perceptions, Student Outcomes, and Implications for Teaching
and Learning About Evolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Yi Kong, Nancy Pelaez, Trevor R. Anderson and Jeffrey T. Olimpo
Utility of Context-Based Learning to Influence Teacher
Understanding of Evolution and Genetics Concepts Related
to Food Security Issues in East Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Timothy A. Goodale
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x Contents
Bridging the Gap Towards Flying: Archaeopteryx as a Unique
Evolutionary Tool to Inquiry-Based Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Alexandra Buck, Sofoklis Sotiriou and Franz X. Bogner
Overcoming Motivational Barriers to Understanding and Accepting
Evolution Through Gameful Learning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
David C. Owens
Using Human Examples to Teach Evolution to High SchoolStudents:
Increasing Understanding and Decreasing Cognitive Biases
and Misconceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Briana Pobiner, William A. Watson, Paul M. Beardsley
and Constance M. Bertka
Models and Modeling in Evolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Kathy L. Malone, Anita M. Schuchardt and Zakee Sabree
Cultural Diversity and Evolution: Looking for a Dialogical
Teaching Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
A.A.GómezGalindo,AlejandraGarcíaFranco,LeonardoGonzálesGalli
and José de la Cruz Torres Frías
Transforming a College Biology Course to Engage Students:
Exploring Shifts in Evolution Knowledge and Mechanistic
Reasoning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Lisa O. Kenyon, Emily M. Walter and William L. Romine
Improving Student Understanding of Randomness and Probability
to Support Learning About Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Ute Harms and Daniela Fiedler
Evolution Learning and Creationism: Thinking in Informal
Learning Environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Jorge Groß, Kerstin Kremer and Julia Arnold
Participating in an Object-Based Learning Project to Support
the Teaching and Learning of Biological Evolution: A Case Study
at the Grant Museum of Zoology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Jo Nicholl and Paul Davies
What Now for Evolution Education? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
Michael J. Reiss and Ute Harms
Index .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 345
Editors and Contributors
About the Editors
Ute Harms isDirectorattheIPN-LeibnizInstitutefor
science and mathematics education, Full Professor for
Biology Education at the University of Kiel (Germany)
since 2007, and Fellow of the RoyalSociety of Biology
(Great Britain). She has a Ph.D. in cell biology and has
workedasahighschoolteacherforseveralyears.In2000,
shegotherfirstProfessorshipforBiologyEducationatthe
Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich (Germany).
From2006to2007,sheheldachairinBiologyEducation
at theUniversity ofBremen. Her main research interests
are conceptual learning in biology and in science,
focusing on evolution and energy, biology teacher
education, biology-related competitions and transfer of
contemporarytopicsinthelifesciencestothepublic.
Michael J. Reiss is Professor of Science Education at
UCL Institute of Education, University College London,
VisitingProfessorattheuniversitiesofYorkandKieland
the Royal Veterinary College, Honorary Fellow of the
British Science Association, Docent at the University of
Helsinki and Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.
After undertaking a Ph.D. and postdoctoral research in
evolutionarybiologyandpopulationgenetics,hetrainedto
be Science Teacher and taught in schools for five years
before returning to higher education. The former Director
of Education at the Royal Society, his academic interests
areinscienceeducation,bioethicsandsexeducationandhe
has published widely on issues to do with creationism in
schools.
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